Stories of Addiction & Rescue at St. Christopher’sFree Access



Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney gets certified to use Narcan during a visit to St. Christopher’s Inn at Graymoor in Garrison. Read more on the drug crisis on Page 17. Photo by Chris Layton

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney gets certified to use Narcan during a visit to St. Christopher’s Inn at Graymoor in Garrison. Read more on the drug crisis on Page 17. Photo by Chris Layton

Monday morning, Representative Sean Patrick Maloney visited St. Christopher’s Inn at Graymoor to meet with people fighting opioid addictions and to get training in administering Narcan.

The day began with David Gerber, Director of Counseling & Shelter Services at the Inn, giving Rep. Maloney a history of the Inn and a rundown of its daily activities. Gerber stated that the men who come to the program have an average stay of almost 90 days, three times longer than most rehab programs. A recurring theme was that a 28-day program is not long enough. When you enter the program, you spend half of your day in counseling, and then half the day doing a job. For many who pass through the doors of St. Christopher’s, this is the first time they have jobs, or a sense of responsibility.

Top: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney listens to the stories of “Brothers” at St. Christoper’s Inn. Above: Maloney learns about the treatment and recovery programs offered.

Top: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney listens to the stories of “Brothers” at St. Christoper’s Inn. Above: Maloney learns about the treatment and recovery programs offered.

The staff at the Inn want these men to know that they are “good men, worthy of love and respect.” They also do not shy away from the role of spirituality in the healing process, and while they do offer a daily Mass, when they say spirituality, they mean more a healthy sense of connectivity. When someone has an addiction, Gerber said, it is a very isolating process, so the Inn’s goal is to help men grow connections with other people, and the world around them.

Photo by Chris Layton

Photo by Chris Layton

Maloney asked questions throughout the presentation, including how many men come to the Inn, and what the budget is. The Inn sees about a thousand men per year, with just shy of two hundred beds available at any given time. The men who come to the Inn are not just local, with some coming even from other countries. There are several ways someone gets into the program, the most likely having been referred from other facilities, or drug courts. There are self referrals, those in crisis who call seeking help, and those who walk in. Over the last few years, the population has shifted, with the average age lowering, and the reason for entering the program having changed as well. Ten years ago, the number of people with heroin as their primary source of addiction was just above 18% of their population, now it is closer to 50%.

Gerber also spoke about the drugs that are given to recovering addicts, specifically his issues with methadone. He says that it has addictive properties, which means that methadone has street value and so can be sold. He far prefers vivitrol, which has no street value and little to no chance of addiction. Gerber explained that one shot of vivitrol stays in an addict’s body for over twenty days, and blocks them from getting high. He called this giving them a head start in fighting addiction, and said that they give this shot to men as they leave the program.

Sean Patrick Maloney also met with three of the men currently going through the program – Brothers Christopher, as the friars call them, as opposed to terms such as clients or patients. These three told the representative their stories, how they got into drug use, and how being at the Inn has changed them. All three had different pathways to addiction, whether the medicine cabinet, ordering drugs off the internet, or pain medication after a back surgery. A common thread was the idea that short programs (30 days or less) do not work. One called these programs revolving doors. Two admitted that this was their second time through the program, and that the reason they relapsed was because they did not take their aftercare seriously. One, the youngest of the group, admitted that the first time through, when he got out, he was in a relationship with a girl who still used; being surrounded by that life brought him back into it. This time, he is taking advantage of the halfway house. The oldest in the group, just under 40, wanted to say to young people with addiction to get help now, so they did not have to live with it at his age.

Maloney listened to their stories, asking questions as they spoke, including this: Had any of them known someone who overdosed? All three raised their hands. One had lost five friends to overdoses. The Brothers Christopher told the representative that addiction is all the same, no matter whether you are addicted to alcohol or heroin. They also all spoke about the benefits of the program at the Inn, the jobs they are given to do, and the community of the other men with them.

“We are our brothers’ keepers,” said one of the men. Maloney spoke to them about how someone in his position can help people suffering from addiction, including efforts to get addicts out of jails and into treatment.

Then it was time for lunch. The three men rose and shook the representative’s hand as they left.

After a quick lunch, the training portion of the visit started. Maloney, along with a handful of other people in the room and two PCNR staffers, was trained in how to administer nasal naloxone, better known as Narcan. Participants were certified and given an overdose rescue kit, which includes two vials of Narcan.

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